Electric water pumps.

[rich.]

thanks mate! that looks rather nice

[JPB]

Yes, I thought so. I see it this way: If you're going to ruin the originality of a very fine classic grand tourer by shoehorning in an engine that essentially has no right to be there, then why not go for one of the best of the modern V8s? Especially as 1990s Crowns and LS400s are so very cheap just now. Come to think of it, with petrol at 98ppl locally, why not go the whole way and shove in one of these, which is guaranteed not to suffer from any sort of water pump issue:



OK, so it's a Diesel and that's back to being dearer than petrol, and it might be a little too tall to fit under a standard Stag's bonnet, but as a means of totally ruling out any chance of water pump trouble, why not?


But for anyone who wants to stay with petrol and fancies a Stag that will run and run, have a look at one American story about how strong these big Toyota engines are: http://www.thesmokingtire.com/2014/matt ... xus-ls400/

[rich.]

that truck is gorgeous... as for the lexus, my better half developed a taste for them when she worked for a valeting/car hire & repairs firm & had to fill them with fuel when they were clean... i will have one one day

[JPB]

They'll never be any cheaper. Ironically, the Lexus badged version of the LS400 /LS430 seems to be even cheaper in the UK just now than the Toyota Celsior, which was the same car for the home market and came with the same oily stuff, gadgets and big, comfy furniture.
I've had a look at a few LS400s on the bay of e recently and missed out on a really sound example at £500 that only wanted a fresh pair of distributors to get it running smoothly again. With petrol now at under a pound per litre and loads of space for a big LPG tank, what's not to like?

[History]

A Rover V8 can be fitted in such a manner that it looks factory. Which is what Truimph should have done in the first place. The same applies to EWPs its not a given that installation of either the Engine or EWPs is botched with dexion and fence brackets. I get steel lazer cut to shape, a few neat welds and one bespoke engine mounting.

Note. Some cross members are air tight. So never drill holes in them. The damp will get in.

The sound of a Stag may be enticing at the red line, until the timing chain falls off or something equally expensive. The Stags reputation for engine problems makes the intended purpose of a long distance fast tourer not work. I only like engines that can be thrashed without problems.

IMO. Any V8 less than say 4.5 litres is not necessary, a Straight six cylinder engine would be better. After about 4.5 litres a six becomes too long or too high. In general straight sixes are ignored by tuners unless its a Jag or Aston Martin. The Jag XK engine is very tuneable. Especially the 3.4 litre. My jeep has a 4.0 litre straight six and its 180bhp which compares well with the Rover V8 3.9 at about the same.

Value.
An ideal solution is to keep the original engine and other bits then offer the new owner a choice of the Stag engine fitted or the Rover engine. Either way both engines are sold with the car. I don't worry about a cars value because I am old and my car will outlast me. Or if one has brought a Stag with a Rover engine then the car wss cheaper to buy and no foul. Its not the engine that attracts me to a Stag but the style. To me an engine that needs such careful maintenance is not a good engine.

The Stag was sold as a second car for weekend play time. So the first owners probably had no trouble before the car was sold with low mileage.

Back to EWPs. These are being fitted to more and more new cars. I think retro fitting isn't such a good idea unless the engine cooling system is weak. I wouldn't fit one to my car because it doesn't have cooling system problems. There fore waste of time and money.

Bob

[tractorman]

Internet myth rules!!

The Stag, when properly sorted, is a good engine. It suffered because it was born when the Rover V8 "ruled" and in-fighting in BL killed development - or what development there was in BL at the time as it seemed that the owners of new models had more to do with that than BL! One of my bosses had a Stag from new (about 1973) and he reckoned the only fault in the three years he owned it was that the roof leaked. There again, the local garage never skimped on training courses - and had high standards!

IMHO the Daimler V8 would have been a more enjoyable engine choice than either of the others offered by BL - a properly designed engine that was significantly smaller than 4.5L. Remember, an engine with short stroke and small bores is much more "revvy" than a long stroke/wide bore engine with heavy pistons.

A friend had a Stag that had been fitted with a 2500TC engine. It spoilt the car - according to him. It was replaced by a TVR Chimera (with quite a potent version of the Rover V8), though he soon decided to get rid of that as it was a little too frightening for daily use!

I have my opinions of the Deutz air-cooled diesel; though they are based on two or three tractors, so nor really a fair comparison to, say, the Perkins or David Brown (among many!). Their biggest advantage was the air cooling - certainly when farmers were economical with anti-freeze!

[JPB]

Bob, please take note of Tractorman's far more objective and factual comments would you, and don't simply regurgitate the piffle that's spoken in bars about the Ricardo engines generally, not just the 3 litre one in the Stag but everything from the 1.7 litre slant 4 with 8 valves to the 2 litre 16 valve one in the Sprint.
I've found that - perhaps unsurprisingly - most of the mythology is generated by those who lack the skill to work on anything more complex than some iron pushrod device out of the dark ages..

[rich.]

if its that complicated just buy an mx5, they never seem to go wrong

[suffolkpete]

The former works manager of Holbay Engineering had a Stag which had covered about 300,000 miles, which goes to prove that they are good cars when maintained by someone who knows what they are doing. On the other hand, my nephew owns one which has hardly been on the road in the 15 or so years he's owned it, despite expensive attention by so-called specialists.

[rich.]

pete, tell your nephew i will give him £12 for it